Cherry Blossoms
by Fireflies Glow
Summary: How fast do you fall in love? KxI, inspired one-shot.


**Title:** Cherry Blossoms  
**Summary:** How fast do you fall in love? (KxI, inspired one-shot.)

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_"The speed at which the sakura petals fall... Five centimeters per second."  
– Akari Shinohara, Five Centimeters Per Second_

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As the sun set before fading into oblivion in the city of Tokyo, Ichigo Momomiya sat thinking. She barely had time for herself nowadays, but today she was granted a rare moment of rest that she had not expected to spend reminiscing about the past. And the one thing that her thoughts kept drifting back to was Kisshu.

She hadn't thought about him in such a long time so that now it was odd to. Ichigo hadn't seen him, or any of the others, for such a long while... But today, she found him consuming her thoughts.

It all started with the cherry blossom trees. Somehow, someway, that had sparked a chain of events in her and everything lead back to Kisshu. She had never realized how much he had shaped her into what she was today. She giggled, placing a hand over her mouth to mute the sound. It would definitely be a funny story to tell her children how she got her first kiss. Sobering up, she lounged on the park bench and stretched her legs. Smoothing her skirt and rubbing her arms for warmth, Ichigo realized something: she actually missed him.

After all this time, with no words and no connection to him, she missed him. It was a very shocking revelation to her and she smiled when she remembered how, one day a long time ago, once upon a time, she thought that she would look forward to the day he was finally gone. But now that he and his friends were gone she found that she wouldn't mind seeing them one more time. She wouldn't mind finding out what they looked like now and if they were the same or different... If that midget Taruto had finally grown taller than her, if Pai was still his analytical self and if...

Did Kisshu still believe that he loved her? Casting a look down, she bit her lip. Had that changed? _I may not love you the way you wanted me to, but..._

"Ichigo?"

"Nya?" She was startled, jumping at the sound of her name.

Masaya laughed before slipping his arm around her. The warmth from his arm encased around her, slowly spreading throughout her, and his gentle smile was present on his face as he said, "Come on, Ichigo, let's go... It's getting late."

Ichigo smiled, giggling slightly. "Okay, Masaya!"

"What were you thinking about?" The question itself was light hearted with a tad of concern wrapped through it, but Ichigo shook her head as if not to tell. Masaya laughed. "You can't tell me? Is it a secret?"

She allowed herself a soft smile. "Sort of, Masaya. Not really." He laughed again, the sound full and sweet. Ichigo joined in turn, adding a tinkling bell sound to the mix. "I was just thinking... About the aliens."

Masaya paused, head moving to face hers and a smile that reached his eyes flowed from him. "That's funny. I was just thinking about them, too."

Ichigo was surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah," her boyfriend chuckled, "just how much we went through with them. I'm not quite sure why, but... For some reason, the cherry blossoms reminded me of them."

"Me too!"

"What a coincidence."

"I was thinking about Kisshu a bit, too..." She added as she turned red, embarrassed.

Masaya seemed unaffected, although his smile disappeared a little. A look of seriousness swept over his face, and Ichigo worried, hesitating to tell him, because she believed that some thing was wrong. "Has he been on your mind lately then? You know the fifth year anniversary of them showing up is coming up soon."

"Yeah," Ichigo stretched, "but I don't think that's quite why. It's something else."

He smiled again, the smile that made Ichigo tingle with happiness. She started to smile as well before leaning over to kiss him lightly on the lips. "Let's keep walking." Masaya tightened his arm around her and Ichigo followed him, head resting comfortably on his shoulder. She laughed as a stray cherry blossom petal blew over towards them. As she looked up, one rest itself on her forehead. She placed it in her hand before the wind blew it away and Ichigo's gaze followed as it danced away from her, creating patterns in the sky, before smiling to herself. The storm of petals flew around them, and Ichigo turned her head over her shoulder, watching the shower of pink petals fall.

_Kisshu, if you ever came back, even if it was only just once... _Ichigo bit her lip, and the smile returned to her face. _I still don't love you how you wanted me to, but... But I care for you! And I would tell you the words I never said. I would tell you that..._

_I _do _love you, Kisshu._

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He had never thought, not even once, that his planet could be beautiful. But now, here he was, and it was beautiful. Gorgeous even, and just as good as earth. Kisshu sat under a cherry blossom as he thought, something that was a rare occurrence for him. He thought about her, about Ichigo.

Slowly creeping in his direction, Pai emerged from behind the tree. Kisshu jumped slightly, annoyance clear on his face. "You scared me, Pai!"

Pai did not smile or appeared amused, but he was. Flatly, he replied, "I did not expect to find you here."

Kisshu chuckled, smoothing back his hair. "Yeah, I know. How'd you find me?" Seeing his friend standing there as still as a rock, he added, "You can sit down if you want."

"Five years," Pai remarked softly, still on his feet as he swayed to and fro by the breeze.

"What?"

Pai looked at him as if Kisshu has gone insane, something that he had pondered since their arrival back on their own planet. "It has been five years since the last time we visited earth."

"I know," Kisshu whispered.

There was a long silence, so quiet that they could hear the wind blow by them, and Pai added awkwardly, "I am sure that she misses you." She does not have to be clarified; Kisshu clearly knew who he was talking about. His attention was drawn from the light blue horizon to Pai. Kisshu's expression was unexplainable, somewhat serious and somewhat lithe, as if he was trying to answer a difficult question that in reality had no answer.

"Tell me something, Pai."

"Yes?"

"How fast do you fall in love?"

Pai had no reply to that. He blinked several times, eyes falling downcast towards the ground as if he was searching for a solution in the roots of the planet. The greenness of the grass struck his eyes, and he traced over the curves of each blade and was unable to answer.

Kisshu sighed, slight smile upon his lips as he watched the sky above. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a flutter of pink and he rapidly turned to the direction it was spotted. The cherry blossom petals waved in the wind, a shade that was all to familiar to him.

_Ichigo..._

One lone petal blew off toward him and Kisshu turned his attention back to the clouds. And then, so suddenly that his breath hitched, the petal blew down. It barely skimmed him, but it fell down the side of his face as softly as a hand smoothing over and tracing the shape of his cheek and his jawline before blowing away. His eyes kept on the petal until it was out of his sight, just as he had watched Ichigo as they left.

_I know it's been a long time. Five years to be exact. But even though you've probably moved on, I haven't. Not quite, not yet. Even though you aren't mine, you never were, I... I still care for you. How could I have showed you...? That... That I love you._

In a strange sort of dance, the petals cascaded down in his direction as they fell from the tree.

_And I still love you, even if... Even if you don't love me back. And I will... I will always love you._

"I heard once, a long time ago, that sakura petals fall at five centimeters per second." Kisshu smiled, allowing the petals to caress his cheeks in a shower of pink powder. A slight tear threatened to flow down from the corner of his eye, and he let it fall, smile turning wide and full before telling Pai the answer to his question. He nodded his head in the direction of the cascading cherry blossom petals, swirling in the breeze. "Five centimeters per second...." _Ichigo..._

"That's how fast you fall in love."

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**A/N:** I had just heard about this movie, Five Centimeters Per Second, and was instantly inspired to write this although I've never seen it (I do plan to someday though.) It has such an incredible concept, and although for the movie it symbolizes how fast you fall in love and how quick it is to drop out of communication with others (really, how we start close together and begin to go our separate ways.) For this, I used it to show how fast you can fall in love or even develop a relationship for someone. In the end, after all this time, watching the cherry blossoms Ichigo realizes that she loves Kisshu as a friend. On the same day, in their own world, Kisshu is sitting under the cherry blossom tree and says that he still loves her after all this time even if she doesn't love him back. The movie ends bittersweetly, if not sadly, and so does this. Honestly, for me, it could have no other possible ending and is bittersweet as well.

The idea behind this is also taken from the movie's end theme song, an INCREDIBLE piece (I don't have enough good words to describe it!) called "One More Time, One More Chance" by by Masayoshi Yamazaki. It has to be one of my favorites: it's really amazing, and the lyrics are so deep. I'm probably going to have to put a quote in somewhere in my writing, but to find the lyrics go to youtube and type in "one more time, one more chance english." Click on the second result: it should have a picture of a boy and snow falling. Although it's missing the first part of the song, you get the gorgeous lyrics and hear the fabulous song.

After today's high school freshmen orientation, I felt like I NEEDED to post something. I don't have too many classes with any of my friends or anyone I know, so next year ought to be interesting. Ah well! Either way, no worries! Friends are pretty easy to make. :)

Hopefully, I've done this beautiful movie and song some justice. Thanks so much for reading! :)

~ Bunny,  
Fireflies Glow


End file.
